The next two chapters are a continuation of chapter 47. Kyouko screws up yet again, although for a different reason. In chapter 47, Kyouko made technical mistakes when she did not pay full attention to shaking the Gimlet. She tended to her customers fairly well, but she was unable to multitask. In this chapter, she payed full attention to making the cocktail. She mixed the Martini to the best of her abilities, but she completely missed the point of a Martini. Personally, I think Minami and the manager reacted a bit too strongly. It seems cruel to make those comments, and just leave without giving an explanation. They should’ve at least given Kawakami some clues. Although, one explanation is that they’re both too disappointed to say anything constructive.

The main theme of this chapter is a Martini’s expression, in other words, it’s about what kind of character a Martini has. Just by stirring the cocktail for a few more seconds can make radical changes to it. I think the same idea can be applied to all other cocktails. Every cocktail can be made a bit differently to fit each customer’s taste and situation. I think anyone who’s read the previous chapters would know this by heart by now. Sasakura has often made slight changes to a cocktail’s recipe, and I think that goes beyond techniques. It is more important to understand the characteristics of each cocktail and what kinds of changes can be made to them. It’s not only more important, but I think also more difficult to master than techniques.

Question of the Day:

Sasakura mentioned that both he and Minami believes people need to go through struggles in order for them to learn. I’ve never worked in a restaurant before, so I don’t know if that’s a standard expectation to have. Have you or anyone you know ever worked at a job where they don’t teach you the specifics, but expect you to learn by “watching”? If so, what kind of job was it?

I’m not sure if that’s the point. Some time ago I learned how to do a simple graphic effect from a tutorial. It was fairly easy, but still my finished result was missing something. Looking again to the final step I realized I didn’t considered some apparently minor details that the author didn’t explained, but that made his final product visually coherent; in the end my mistake was to trying to replicate the author’s actions without really thinking about the reasons behind his choices. I think the point here is that every work done for a specific customer has its precise purpose so just by looking at someone experienced only to learn a mechanical movement won’t do you any good if you don’t understand what’s beyond that specific choice. Anyway I think this is something you can learn in time only with experience.